Fluxing copper ores.



PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905.

R. BAGGALEY. PLUXING COPPER ORES.

APPLICATION FILED MAB.3. 1904.

INVENTOR WITN E8555 To all whom it may concern.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH BAGGALEY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLUXING COPPER ORES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed March 3, 1904. Serial No. 196,259.

Be it known that I, RALPH BAGGALEY, of Pittsburg, Allegheny county,Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Method of Fluxing CopperOres, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of thisspecification, which shows in side elevation apparatus suitable for thepractice of my invention.

According to my invention a metallic iron flux is used in smelting ores,and particularly copper ores, in lieu of oxidized iron ores such as arenow ordinarily utilized for this purpose.

It is well known by those conversant with the art of recovering thecontained values from copper, gold, and silver ores by any of thevarious forms of smelting that oxidizediron fluxes are expensive anddiflicult to obtain in an adequate supply. In many mineral districtsvast and valuable bodies of ore, though well known to exist for yearspast, are neglected because such districts are devoid of iron fluxes andhave no railroad facilities for bringing fluxes to the place of miningthe ores or transporting the ores themselves to suitable points forsmelting. In Montana, where the scarcity of iron flux is universal,oxidized-iron outcrops command high prices and are very diificult toobtain in sufficient volume to satisfy the present demands of thesmelters. are resorted to and bad and wasteful smelter practice oftenprevails. Excessive proportions of lime are generally used as asubstitute for iron flux. In the purchase of oxidized-iron flux ofcourse an effort is made to procure such as contain values. As a rulecopper values are absent, because the oxidation of the iron alsoconverts the copper sulfid into copper sulfate, which being soluble inwater is washed away by the action of the waters. Silver values are alsoin the same manner rendered transitory. Hence the remaining values, ifany, usually consist of gold. It is seldom, however, that these exceedfrom three to five dollars per ton. In purchasing oxidized-iron ores thesmelter is compelled to pay for ninety per cent. of the containedvalues, together with a liberal price for the oxidized iron, the latterusually amounting to four dollars and fifty cents to five dollars andfifty cents per ton in addition to the contained mineral values, asbefore stated. In the present practice this iron is used as a flux incombination with the ores under treat- For this reason variousexpedients ment and all the mineral values contained in the ores andflux are recovered as far as the present imperfect treatment processwill admit. The slag produced by this operation is then usually regardedas a worthless product, and it is thrown upon the slag-dump as beingunworthy of further consideration. Such slag never contains less thansixteen per cent. of metallic iron. It usually contains from thirtyfiveto forty-five per cent. and it may at times contain fifty-five per cent.Such slags also contain not less than four-tenths of one per cent. ofcopper, usually from three-quarters to one per cent. and often one and aquarter per cent. even in the Butte district, where smelter practice isconsidered good.

In a patent application filed by me on December 23, 1903, Serial No.186,336, I have described a method of separating the iron fromferruginous slags for use either as castiron or in the production ofsteel. In practicing the art described in that invention I have alsosuccessfully separated with the iron the copper, gold, and silver thathappened to exist in the slags under treatment. It will be noted bythose skilled in the art when a slag containing one-half per cent. ofcopper, fortynine and one-half per cent. iron, and fifty per cent.silica, alumina, lime, andother bases is treated for a completeseparation of the contained metals, as described in my said application,the resulting metals will consist of ninety-nine per cent. of iron andone per cent. copper. Slags from copper smelting furnaces, however, veryrarely contain so high a percentage of iron as that stated in ordinarysmelter practice. An illustration of the slags resulting from ordinarypractice, particularly in the Butte district, would be more nearlytwo-thirds of a per cent. of copper, thirty-' three and one-third percent. of iron, and sixty-six per cent. of silica, alumina, sulfur, andother elements combined. When the metals, therefore, have beenseparated, as contemplated in the application above referred to, theresulting metals would consist of approximately ninety-eight per cent.of iron and two per cent. of copper, or, in other words, say, fortypounds of copper to the ton of iron thus produced, or approximately fourdollars worth of copper per ton. When slag containing nine-tenths percent. of copper, sixteen per cent. of iron, twenty-three per cent. oflime, and approximately sixty per cent. of silica, alumina, sulfur, andother elements is utilized in practicing the process described in myapplication, Serial No. 186,336, it will be apparent that when thecontained metals have been separated from the bases they will consistapproximately of ninetyfour and one-half per cent. of iron and five andone-half per cent. of copper, or, say, one

' hundred and ten pounds of copper to the ton of iron thus produced. Inother words, such slags when reduced to metal by my improved processwould contain eleven dollars worth of copper to the ton of iron,together with any gold or silver that might be associated therewith. Inaddition to these values must be considered the value of the metalliciron itself as a fluxing agent. The oxidized-iron ores as now purchasednever contain over fifty per cent. of FeO, and they rarely contain inexcess of five dollars per ton in mineral values, the latter usuallybeing in the form of free gold.

Metallic iron, if reduced to suitable form for use as a fiuxing agent onthe lines of my present invention, will yield double the effioiency ofoxidized ores, as they are now utilized for the purpose, that containfifty per cent. FeO. For these reasons metallic-iron flux in suitableform is worth as a fluxing agent at least twice as much as the ordinaryoxidizediron fluxes. Metallic-iron flux will not be available for use assuch when cast in the form of pigs, as described in my application,Serial No. 186,336, because such pig, even when broken into pieces byreason of its great weight, would rapidly sink through the charge pastthe zone of fusion in the blast-furnace and into the crucible below,thus failing in its mission as a flux and at the same time breakingholes through the charge past the zone of fusion, and thus retarding andseriously interfering with the smelting process. In order, therefore, toproduce the metalliciron flux in the most available and desirable form,I preferably use the apparatus shown in the drawings hereto attached, inwhich the metal in molten form is tapped from the separating-furnace 2,and thus flows from a suitable spout 3 onto a traveling trough conveyer4:, that is preferably inclined. In this manner the molten metalautomatically The solid trough conveyer is made long enough by me topermit the molten metal to thus solidify before it is discharged fromthe conveyer. At the end of the conveyer I utilize any desired form ofapparatus or device that will have the elfect of breaking up these thinmetal sheets into comparatively small pieces. This work will befacilitated by a shock, such as that delivered .by a hammer or a fallingweight rather than by pressure. The latter will accomplish the result;but it demands the use of unnecessary power. The best device for thepurpose is the simple form of drop-hammer 5, operated by earn 6, shownin the drawing, which will accomplish the result with the expenditure ofa very small amount of power.

By delivering the molten metal from the separating-furnace into asuitable receptacle containing water the metallic-iron flux may beconverted into granular form, in which it can be utilized in theblast-furnace as a metallic flux, either direct or when briqueted insuitable machinery or when combined with some bonding agent and utilizedin the form of bricks or plates. The use of this metalliciron flux inthe granulated form, however, is not desirable and will involve anincreased expense for briqueting or forming through the medium of somebonding agentinto bricks or plates. All things considered, itsmostdesirable form for use as a fluxing agent is when it has been brokeninto pieces, as above described.

Many variations of the process herein described in this invention willnaturally suggest themselves to those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit'of my invention, since What I claim is 1. Themethod herein described which consists in charging into acopper-smelting blastfurnace metallic iron as a flux; substantially asdescribed.

2. The method herein described which consists in charging into acopper-smelting blastfurnace metalliciron in divided form as a flux;substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

, RALPH BAGGALEY. Witnesses:

WILLIAM M. KIRKPATRIoK, IRVING MAcDoNALD.

